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Friday, October 11, 2013

The Good Life -- Omaha Wing Challenge

1203 South 180 Street

Let's eat some wings

Omaha NE 68130402 933 2947

Sitting in the same location as the former Axe-riddled Draft House, The Good Life Sports Bar and Grill is a new entrant into Omaha's ever-expanding wing scene (for the record there really isn't a "wing scene", I just felt like throwing in an Internet buzz word). Now, in full disclosure of this review, I've had the wings here several times since they opened two months ago and every order had been GREAT...except of course, the day I come prepared to review them.

For a complete list of HitThatDive wing reviews, click right here. For those wondering how this works, wings are rated in 5 categories for a total potential perfect score of 50. The current reigning champion (by virtue of a committee vote) is The Pheasant with a total score of 48. And, for shits and giggles (mostly to get the shits) the worst score has been the gallbladder-seizing wings at the Buffalo Company which clocked in at a pathetic 16.

A bit off this time

First Impressions: I always hate when wings are relegated to the bottom of the "Appetizers" section of the menu. Be proud of your wings if they're good! Have a "Wings" section. You have to specify if you want regular or boneless wings...for the record...boneless wings are chicken fingers and should be in the Kid's Menu right next to the PB&J. After you order, the wings usually take about 15 to get to your table, which is a good thing because that generally means that they're not festering in a heating tower getting all soggy...right Oscar's? (Side note...Oscar's has been slipping badly of late, look for a new review to see they have slipped all the way to Buffalo Wild Wings status). Order the hot sauce, and all but once, a steaming mound of well-coated, uniform-sized wings are placed in front of you just spicy enough to burn your nose ever so slightly.

Total: 9Sauce: Up until yesterday, the sauce had always been the perfect mix of orangeish, spicy Frank's-like hot sauce with just the right amount of butter to give it authentic Buffalo wing taste. Yesterday was a bit bland, and the coloring was off as well. Other than yesterday, the hot sauce has had the right amount of kick that you can still taste it on the corners of your mouth on your way out of the bar, without being so overpowering that you're doubled-over in the can 2-8 hours later.

Total: 8

Good size

Crispy: Ugh! Until yesterday this was always consistent, and by consistent I mean consistently perfect. As stated on the menu, the wings here are hand-breaded (which I usually don't like) but does give them a nice crunch without ever getting soggy...and that's included a few 20 piece orders where even the ones on the bottom stayed crispy even after sitting at the bottom of the basket for more than 10 minutes. Yesterday's wings just weren't that perfect level of crispy as they've been previously here. Had I not been here before this might have been a "6" instead of the "10" I thought I would be giving in this section, so let's just split the difference and chalk it up to an off night.

Total: 8Size: Another strong point of the wings here is that they're usually uniform in size (on the smaller side which is good) and I have yet to encounter any of the over-sized mutant buzzard wings that can NEVER be cooked properly with smaller pieces mixed into the fryer with them. Not a single complain here.

No complaints here

Total: 10Extras: Yeah, you get blue cheese (unremarkable). Yeah, you usually get a bit of celery (generally not enough). But, you never seem to get enough napkins, if any additional ones, and there's never an extra basket for the bones. Again, none of that is a make-or-break for how the wings taste, but some of these are such small details to easily fix, why overlook them in the first place? Again, not a huge deal, let's just call it friendly advice.

Total: 8 Final Score 43
That's a pretty good showing for the new wings on the block. Like I said, had I done a review the last time I was in here the score would have been closer to 47, AND had I only gone strictly from the wings yesterday the score would have been closer to 37. In any case, these are some pretty damn good wings at a decent price. Go on a Thursday and you can get a 32 ounce Bud Light for $5. Give The Good Life wings a try and then let me know what you think...they are definitely worth a shot!